Date:28/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/28/stories/2008082853140300.htm

Kerala

Akshaya entrepreneurs launch a novel protest

Staff Reporter

’e-thendal’ mocks e-krishi and e-literacy programmes

Akshaya Entrepreneurs Association alleges neglect by authorities
Seeks government intervention to get
loans waived

MALAPPURAM: A group of disillusioned Akshaya entrepreneurs from the district launched a unique protest by begging on the streets of Malappuram on Wednesday; a move which they called ‘e-thendal’ or ‘e-yachana,’ mocking the popular programmes of the Kerala State IT Mission like e-krishi and e-literacy and evoking curiosity and empathy from the public.

The protest, launched under the banner of the Akshaya Entrepreneurs Association, will cover other parts of the district before spreading to other districts.

K.P. Abdurahman, chairman of the association, said that the Akshaya entrepreneurs were forced to take out such a protest owing to the continued neglect of the authorities.

Dozens of entrepreneurs were facing confiscation of their property by the banks that had given them loans to launch Akshaya centres a few years ago.

They had sought the intervention of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan to get their loans waived a few months ago, he said.

The entrepreneurs demanded government intervention to end their financial woes as they had “mortgaged their livelihood for a living offered by the government.”

They said the State IT Mission, which implemented the Akshaya e-literacy project on a pilot basis in Malappuram, had failed to come to the rescue of the entrepreneurs when they needed help.

They accused the State IT Mission of shirking the financial commitment it made when the project was launched in 2003.

Although every entrepreneur was assured an initial return of Rs.1,20,000 for creating awareness among 1,000 families, only about half of that amount could be recovered from the business. “That too several years later, after we invested Rs.2 lakh each,” said Mr. Abdurahman.

Most entrepreneurs began their centres by availing themselves of loans from banks such as South Malabar Gramin Bank, Canara Bank, Malappuram District Cooperative Bank, and State Bank of Travancore.

The debts the entrepreneurs incurred in the first phase of the project increased over the years.

Now, many of them face the threat of attachment of properties by the bank.